Most Terrifying Things About America’s First Serial Killer

An Ulterior Motive

If Holmes had his own plans in the U.S., why would he bother going to London anyway? Sources say that he orchestrated the Jack the Ripper killings to create a diversion. Or perhaps he was simply a grisly killer who got off on committing as many grotesque murders as possible.

Not only would a sensationalized story about an unidentified serial killer in London distract the media from what Holmes was really doing (murdering people and building a fake hotel in which he could murder more people), Jeff Mudget believes that he had a second ulterior motive. Mudgett claims that Holmes wanted to kill rich women and use their reproductive organs to create a youth serum that would help him live for an unnaturally long time. If this is true, it definitely gives the story and even more sinister tone than it already had initially. Was Holmes interested in other supernatural beliefs or was eternal youth the only one?